Keyboard Critics

There's an occurrence, for lack of a better word, that I have been noticing for a while now and I am finally making time to address it.

You have all seen it, at one point or another. You're on your computer or smart phone, scrolling through Chris Brown's instagram photos or Demi Lovato's Twitter mentions or looking at some random Youtuber's video, when you come across the comments. Those comments. The ones that, though they may initially make you laugh, should also make you shake your head in embarrassment.

Those comments.

They say nothing positive or constructive, are rather cruel and malicious, and serve no purpose really, other than to temporarily dull the pain of the commenter's inner insecurity. I often find myself shuddering in disgust when I browse Youtube videos and see what some people decide to say when the fear of being identified or punished is not there. For no obvious reason, and perhaps only due to an inherent human quality to point out the one bad flower in a field full of beautiful ones, people seem to have the worst kind of verbal diarrhea on social media websites.

Granted, I'm not saying that we should all hold hands and sing the Barney "I Love You" song and tell each other all the time how wonderful we are and how everything we do is perfect. But seriously. Commenting on Rebecca Black's music video for that extremely annoying song "Friday" and saying she should "go slit her wrist" is a bit much, don't you think?

Think about how you would feel if you were Kim K and someone commented on your instagram photo saying "b----h all you do is suck d--k for a living" or "you look like a blurry blob". Would you tell your friend that? Even if they did look like a blurry blob? Or are you doing it because no one knows who you are and you can still go about your every day life as though you never made that comment in the first place?

It makes you wonder, what are humans really like naturally, without society and its rules. How many of us would truly have any kind of integrity if there were no rules and no one around to enforce them?

Would you steal from your favourite designer store if the door was open, no one was around and there was no security measure in place?

My bet is that, unless you practice lying to yourself, your answer to that was probably a yes.

The truth is, as civilized and independent as we think we are as human beings, it's nothing more than an image we uphold in the presence of our neighbours. We would not be civilised if there were no rules around to tell us what is acceptable and what is condemned. Society and religion control us. We act the way we act because society, or God, tells us to. Because our fellow inhabitants of the world keep us in line. Because that is what everyone else is doing. Because we fear being castigated.

Some of us, at least.

But for those who find that social media is their escape, their opportunity to be as cruel and disgusting as their heart sees fit just because maybe they want to rebel against what little decency society has created for mankind. Who feel they should blur the line between "honest" and "obnoxious." Who never learned the golden rule. This blog is for you.

I only hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean.